The Chicago Reader, the city’s leading alternative newspaper since the 1970s, is being rocked by a dispute among its board members that staffers fear could force the publication to shut down in a few weeks.
The board controversy is preventing the Reader’s transition to nonprofit ownership — a critical financial lifeline. The Reader’s two owners — criminal defense attorney Leonard Goodman and real estate investor Elzie Higginbottom — and their board members are split over the leadership of the Reader’s co-publisher and president, Tracy Baim, after Goodman wrote a column in November for the Reader about his concerns over having his 6-year-old daughter vaccinated against COVID-19.
